Fallen Angels
by Thine Dreamer Doth Take Flight
Summary: The Dark Warrior Project's timeline told by me revolving around an OC.


_A/N: I was inspired by a Black Veil Brides' song by the same name to write this story. It's about the Dark Warrior Project. Obviously, there were at least four more subjects than just Jak. He just happened to be the only one that survived the injections. What about the other subjects? What were they like up to the point where their hearts stopped beating? This is my version of that. If you like the premise, then I urge you to please read on. Thanks for giving my story a chance._

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><p><strong>Fallen Angels<strong>

The Dark Warrior Project began after the baron Damas was overthrown and banished from Haven City to the Wastelands. Its leaders were Erol, Count Veger, and Baron Praxis, who were all eager for a new class of warrior to combat the Metal Head army that kept attacking the city and their people. Two believed in the power of Dark Eco to create these warriors, whereas the other believed Light Eco held the key. Veger was overruled, and thus they began collecting people to 'test' this theory on.

Twenty criminals that were locked away in the prisons were chosen for one reason or another to be involved in this project. Both women and men were used, as the leaders of the Dark Warrior Project didn't care for gender. Three died in the first injection process simply due to complications and glitches that had to be weeded out. They were replaced by three others that didn't die right off the bat.

Dark Eco flowed through their veins, making them more powerful. Within days of their first injections, the prisoners transformed into dangerous beasts that threatened to destroy whatever they wanted. Some were stronger than others with transformations lasting for a full ten minutes, and the weaker ones only transformed for less than a minute. Even so, the damage they could do in that time was unimaginable. Things looked promising. If an army of these controlled Dark Eco freaks were to be set onto the Metal Head Nest, then this war would finally be over and Haven City would be forever safe.

But things weren't as good as they seemed. Dark Eco was a poison to the subjects' bodies, disguising its damage by providing power to those it was harming. It burned through them, killing them slowly, becoming ever more lethal with every injection the subjects received. Within the first eight months, fifteen of the subjects died. The other five were incredibly strong, but when not in their transformed state, they were sickly and couldn't do much at all. They died during the ninth month.

Veger brought up changing the Eco injections to Light Eco, but was shot down by Praxis almost immediately. Twenty more prisoners were brought in for the injections, only things were done a little more carefully. A smaller concentration of Dark Eco was injected into the subjects, along with a tiny dosage of Green Eco to help slow down the poisoning process that happened with Dark Eco. All but five subjects survived from the tenth month to the twelfth.

Then a special subject was introduced. A boy that had traveled through time was brought in by Erol and his men, as they believed him to be an eco user better than all others. This was the kind of person they had been waiting for in their experiments. He hadn't said a word since arriving in Haven City, making them believe he might be mute, but he began screaming during the first injection, just like everyone else.

That boy was Jak.

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><p><span>Month Twenty-Five : Two Years and a Month since the Start of the D.W.P.<span>

Erol, along with several Krimzon Guards, escorted the tired subjects back to their cells after having their bi-weekly Dark Eco injections. Their transformations had happened pretty quickly afterwards when they were in the training arena, where they were ordered to destroy other prisoners that weren't in the Dark Warrior Project. It was in their instincts to kill, so even if they hadn't wanted to, they took out the innocent people with little hesitation. Blood stained their prisoner garb and their skin, which frightened the people but there was little they could do to change what was happening to them.

There were ten of them left in the Dark Warrior Project that could transform, with one that had never done so even though he had been expected to from the start. All the others had died within the last year. The Dark Eco had destroyed them to stop their hearts, or they had become so savage because of the eco that they turned on the KG only to be put down for that. Baron Praxis was disappointed by this failure, the second in a row, and said that once this batch died, if they died, this would be the end of the Dark Warrior Project. It wasn't because he cared if they died; they just didn't have enough eco left in the world to try a third time.

One of the subjects, a pink-haired girl close to womanhood, glanced into the only cell that was occupied almost constantly. It held the boy that was believed to be an eco user, the one that had traveled here through a portal, the one that had yet to transform. No one knew why that was, not even those that had begun the project. It had never been done before by any other subject. It seemed to be unique to him. The girl couldn't help but wish she was the same when she looked down at the blood on her hands. Oh, what she wouldn't give to be normal again.

The subjects were put away in their small cells, where they washed the blood off of them in the crappy sinks and changed into another set of the prison garb. The bloodied clothes were taken by KG to cleaned and or burned, depending on whether or now the low-class servants of Praxis could get the stains out. Sometimes the KG were nice enough to let the prisoners mingle for a bit, still human enough to know that even prisoners need a little company. Erol claimed it was to build their relationships so they could work well together when it came time to storm the Nest, but no one knew if that was the truth. Today seemed to be one of those days, as their doors were left unlocked and one of the Guards said they had two hours.

With very little hesitation, the subjects left their crummy cells to mingle. Since they were stuck in this hellhole together for the same reason, they figured they might as well get along as well as they possibly could. The only person that never came out was that boy with yellow-green hair and a green goatee, the one that never had to go through their pain. He always stayed in his cell by himself, never seeking out companions or even simple company.

But today would be different. The pink-haired girl decided that after a year of letting him be, she would finally go in there and speak to him, even if he did not speak back.

She walked away from her fellows and into his cell. He was seated on the lame excuse for a bed the KG provided for every prisoner, looking at the floor as he usually did. She paused just inside the door, waiting to see if he would acknowledge her presence. His blue eyes flickered in her direction but that was it. At least it was better than nothing.

"Hello," she said in a pleasant tone. "My name is Sondra. I figured that since we've been stuck in this Precursor-forsaken place together for the past year, I should introduce myself to you. Would you mind telling me your name?"

"…Jak," the prisoner muttered, barely audible as he spoke for the first time to her.

"That's a nice name. Why don't you come out with the rest of us and make the best of your stay here?" Sondra suggested.

Jak turned his back on her and didn't answer her question at all. Sondra sighed before venturing a few steps further into his cell. She didn't understand why he would want to be alone when he could have company. No one liked being a lab morat for the KG in their attempt to conquer the Metal Heads, but it would have been a whole lot worse if they couldn't interact with one another. It also made it that much harder to go on when one of them died. Ten of them had died over the course of a year, including those that had gone before Jak's arrival. Half of them were gone, and by the time Praxis even considered attacking the Nest, more of them would be dead. Maybe that was why Jak never wanted to socialize with them. He didn't want to makes friends only to lose them.

"Well, if you want to stay in here by yourself, that's fine, Jak. You know where to find us if you change your mind," Sondra told him. "Don't be a stranger now. We're all familiar with each other's screams, after all. So if you want to get to know us better before this damn project kills us, feel free to come on out."

She left him with that to join the other subjects. She was one of three females still alive after two years of being injected with Dark Eco. There had originally been eight females, but five of them had died from the eco in one way or another. Those that still lived were fairly strong in comparison. The others were Lilee, a brown-haired purple-eyed kleptomaniac, and Dianna, a green-haired brown-eyed arsonist. Lilee acted like a snob and was very unpleasant to be around, especially since she had nothing to steal in this place. Dianna was more tolerable with her kind personality despite having burned down buildings harboring rich nobles in attempts to harm Praxis's family. Of the three females, only Lilee enjoyed killing, no matter if she had a reason or not.

There were seven males, not counting Jak, when there used to be twelve. Three had actually been brought into prison with Sondra, being Freedom Fighters that had been caught by the KG during a secret mission. Those three were Krusher, a brawny tan elf with blonde hair and crimson eyes, Randol, a scrawny guy with green hair and gray eyes, and Aarin, a one-eared, blue-eyed, purple-haired man with a scruffy beard. All of them were older than Sondra by many years. They all had their specialties, but those didn't matter in prison, especially since they were being used in this evil way. They made the best of it during these times, though.

The other guys had ranging personalities and none of them were Freedom Fighters in the Underground. Pein, an orange-haired dark-eyed brute, had murdered his wife and was a total woman-hater. Tank, a short red-haired brown-eyed man, hadn't paid his taxes because he had a starving family to feed. Logun, a lean black-haired orange-eyed jerk, was a serial killer that went so far as to kill an entire family in their sleep. Branden, a blue-haired green-eyed baby face, had conned a bunch of people out of a lot of money to aid the rebels in overthrowing the baron. Pein and Logun had no problem getting blood on their hands, being killers already, but in that pleasure they were alone.

Sondra was tripped coming out of Jak's cell by Lilee and fell flat on her face before she could break her fall. The snobby woman laughed, a terrible sound, as she put her foot down on the girl's back to keep her from getting up. No one else noticed what she was doing, or they just didn't want to get involved. The pink-haired girl groaned and turned a vehement glare onto Lilee.

"What the hell are you doing this for?" she growled.

Lilee shrugged, arms crossed over her chest. "Do I really have to have a reason? I just like picking on people that are weaker than me. You just happen to be a lot weaker than me and easy prey. Plus, your reactions are just the best. Even Dianna doesn't squeal as great as you, and you know how loud she screams when she gets the injections."

"I am not weak! I am just as strong as you are!" Sondra snapped, trying to push herself up only to have Lilee apply more pressure to her spine.

"Not from where I'm standing," Lilee remarked with a sneer as she painfully jabbed her heel into the girl's back. "Now what were you doing in that mute kid's cell? Trying to be friends with him? It figures that a weak bitch like you would try to be nice to an even weaker freak. He's not even one of us, you know. He's never transformed even once and he's been here a year. I suppose his body's just not made for the power that Dark Eco offers. Of course, yours isn't very good at it, either." She applied more pressure suddenly, making Sondra cry out in pain. "I wonder which of you will die first."

"…Get off of me…," Sondra hissed, feeling the Dark Eco build up in her. She thought she had used up all of its power during training, but it had proven otherwise. Her anger had awoken it within her and it seemed that it might cause her to transform again if Lilee didn't leave her alone. Already her skin was starting to turn whitish-gray, not a good sign.

Lilee was not afraid. She just sneered. "I'd like to see you make me."

Before Sondra could get mad enough to completely transform, someone shoved Lilee off of her. The pink-haired girl rolled onto her back to see who had done it and was surprised to see Jak standing there. Lilee was surprised as well, but her purple eyes just showed anger at him for interfering with her fun. Everyone else in the room came to stare at the scene, as Jak had never really done anything since being forced into this program.

"Well, well. Look who finally decided to come out of his cage," Lilee purred in a taunting voice. "First time out with the big boys and you've already made a mistake. You see, no one puts their hands on me and gets away with it. Especially not a stupid weak little bastard that can't transform like you. You're going to pay for your foolishness, Freak. And there's nothing you can do to stop it because you're just a weak little elf boy."

"Why don't you try saying that to my face?" Jak challenged, not intimidated at all.

Lilee sneered once more. "You've got balls, Freak. But having them won't do you any good if you're weak." She glanced down at Sondra and made a noise of disapproval. "It figures that weak bastards stick up for one another. Weaklings can only prove a threat when they work together against someone stronger. Too bad you and Sondra are the weakest of the weak. Even combined, you wouldn't stand a chance in hell against me."

"Don't you ever shut up?" Jak wanted to know, cutting in before she could say any more.

The brown-haired woman responded by punching at him. He dodged just enough that her fist made contact with the wall instead of his face. She proceeded to try to punch him, but he dodged her or blocked her attacks. Even without having the use of Dark Eco at his disposal, he seemed to be a brilliant fighter. Lilee lost her cool and slipped up, giving Jak an opening. All he did was punch her once in the chest and she was down for the count. She fell to the ground like a bag of rocks, not to be a nuisance to anyone for some time.

"…Holy crap," Sondra murmured under her breath, surprised to see him take Lilee down so easily. Not even she could do that, and she and Lilee were constantly at odds.

Jak offered her a hand, which she took, and helped her to her feet. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah. Thanks," she said without meeting his gaze. "That's quite some skill you've got there. How did you learn to fight and evade like that? It's incredible."

"I just know," was Jak's reply.

"Sondra!" Krusher called as he and the other two Freedom Fighters came towards her to check on her.

"Krusher," she acknowledged, knowing she was about to get a lecture, before turning back to Jak only to find him gone again. She assumed that, with the action done, he had returned to the solitude of his cell. It was sad to see him go after the kindness he had just shown her, but there wasn't any changing that. He would come out of his shell when he was ready.

If he was ever ready, that was.

* * *

><p><span>Month Twenty-Six : Two Years and Two Months since the Start of the D.W.P.<span>

Sondra screamed as she lay helpless in that accursed chair, receiving her eco injections for that bi-weekly period. No matter how many times she had been injected, the pain never got any easier to take. It always hurt like hell and left her with tears in her green eyes. She pressed against the restraints, trying to break away, but to no avail. The metal was stronger than she was. It was always stronger than her when she was just Sondra. She couldn't escape the pain. No one ever could here.

The injection cycle finally became complete and the machine stopped pumping her full of the poison known as Dark Eco. She felt weak, like she couldn't even get out of that chair, as she always felt once the cycle ended. But the Dark Eco within her gave her unnatural and unholy strength, which made her strong enough to stand when the metal restraints were removed from her wrists and ankles. A Krimzon Guard escorted her out of the room into another one where the others were waiting. She passed Jak along the way and met his gaze with an unconfident one before quickly looking away.

What did he think of her? Did he see her as a monster because of what she did when she transformed? Would he understand how she felt about all of this? Would he understand how much she hated herself because of what the KG were making her into? Would he understand the nightmares she had of what she had done and had yet to do, of seeing blood on her hands and seeing a monstrous reflection of her dark side in any reflective surface? Or did he hate everyone like her? Sondra didn't know, but couldn't stop herself from wondering what the only subject of the Dark Warrior Project that hadn't changed thought of the other subjects…like her.

All human thoughts were gone from her mind by the time they reached the training arena. Normal prisoners were poorly armed in the room, and this time the KG had even brought in some captured Metal Heads to use in practice. Erol ordered the Dark Warriors to attack, and all restraints broke away inside. Sondra felt herself become controlled by the Dark Eco; her body changed into that of a monster. Her skin and hair turned whitish-gray along with everyone else's, and their eyes turned jet-black. Claws took the place of nails, and for the females, they sprouted monstrous devil-wings. It was a unique reaction that only women received; the men remained earthbound with no chance of taking to the sky.

Dark Sondra rose into the air with only a couple flaps of her massive devil-wings, no thoughts in her head either than to kill. The darkness took over, calling for blood to be spilled. She swooped down and tore off a poor prisoner's head without receiving any injuries from the bloke's gun. His body collapsed to the ground and his head was dropped carelessly. Dark Sondra moved on to the next victim as she dove down towards a large Metal Head. She shot a Dark Strike at it, knocking it off-balance, so it could easily be destroyed by Dark Krusher's claws. The blood from the victims made Dark Sondra cackle in excitement.

The Dark Warriors attacked and destroyed and killed until there was no one left to mangle. Dark Sondra floated above the male Dark Warriors, bored and looking anxiously for something to drain the blood from. Then suddenly a Dark Strike grazed her left wing, making her drop a few feet. Her crazed gaze turned towards the source only to find Dark Lilee hovering there with an evil sneer plastered on her face. Then without warning, she dived down towards Dark Sondra, intent on killing her and proving who was truly the strongest.

Erol saw what was going on, and he did not want to lose any of his Dark Warriors. He ordered his men to tranquilize Lilee before she could harm Sondra. The KG shot darts into the winged snob, but in her current state they would do little good unless they were very high in dosage. She continued on her path to destroy her prey.

Dark Sondra evaded her opponent's swoop and flew away, trying to keep from hurting her supposed comrade. As a creature of Dark Eco, her dark mind assumed anyone that looked like her was on her side and forgot the human premonition that Lilee didn't like her and therefore wanted her dead. Dark Lilee pursued her, and unfortunately was faster. Her claws tore into Dark Sondra's wing, shredding it so dark blood poured from the wound. The kinder girl hissed in pain before dropping; her wing wasn't working properly now and couldn't keep her in the sky very well. Darts made their mark in Dark Lilee, but there weren't enough tranquilizers to bring her down yet.

A third Dark Warrior stepped in to bring a stop to this before someone died. Dark Dianna flew in between the other two females and used a Dark Blast to force Dark Lilee away. Dark Randol moved to catch Dark Sondra as she made landfall. Her devil-wing was a mess, but at least she was still alive for the moment. Dark Dianna wouldn't let her predator continue her pursuit, and the other Dark Warriors surrounded their injured comrade to emphasize that what Dark Lilee had done was inappropriate.

Then their Dark Eco lost its potency, which allowed the tranquilizers to fully kick in. Lilee, weak from the use of Dark Eco, lost consciousness as she fell from the sky with a still-very-conscious Dianna. KGs moved to break their fall—the Dark Warriors were valuable as long as they weren't turning on their superiors and couldn't be dropped like trash. A couple of KGs were ordered to take Lilee to the medical ward to ensure her life would not be threatened by the great dosage of tranquilizer.

Though her wing was no longer present, the injury was still there on Sondra. It was a gaping gash on her back, bleeding heavily from the damage Dark Lilee inflicted upon her in their scuffle. Erol had her escorted to the medical ward as well to be taken care of immediately. Sondra held her head in her hands as she usually did when she became herself again, having no knowledge of what had happened while under the influence of darkness but feeling it wasn't good.

A doctor managed to stop the bleeding and stitched her up covering her wound with a bandage. Her green eyes flitted over to where Lilee lay unconscious surrounded by doctors running tests and received a flash in her mind of Dark Lilee attacking her wing. She winced, her hand instinctively reaching back towards her injury, though that had been numbed with pain-killing sedatives as to not hinder her. Had that snob actually tried to kill her when they were transformed?

The other subjects were out of their cells and mingling by the time that Sondra was escorted back to her cell. She closed the door behind her to change out of her bloodied garb into one that was clean, washing the blood off of her skin and out of her hair and out from under her fingernails. She shuddered, thinking about how she had gotten that blood where it was and not liking it. She hated this whole thing; that would never change. All she could hope for was death before she was used against the Metal Heads, and after them, the Underground. No matter what, she did not want to be used as a weapon against her own people.

The pink-haired girl curled up on her bed, not up for talking today. Though her body was numb, her heart was far from it. She felt sick from being put through all of this. Never having taken a life before being dragged into this crummy prison, having crimson stains on her hands made her want to disappear forever. She remembered the first few times she came out of being Dark Sondra to see blood and guts all over. The poor girl had thrown up at the sight. But now she had become used to it and never got sick anymore, which did not make her a better or stronger person. Sondra felt weak and just wanted to die so she could be free at last.

Her cell door creaked as someone opened it. She didn't bother to open her eyes. If it was a KG trying to get her to come out, then too bad. If it was one of her comrades, they'd have to understand why she didn't want to leave her cell. If it was one of the murderers among the subjects, then she just hoped they'd finish what Lilee had started so she could finally be at peace.

It was not a KG, and neither was it friend or foe. The person that had come to check on her was someone she had hardly spoken to at all.

"What's wrong, Sondra?" Jak asked, closing the door behind them for some privacy.

Startled by his sudden reappearance in her life, Sondra's eyes flashed open, but she still didn't say anything. She just pulled her legs closer and tried not to look at him. The things she had wondered earlier about him came back into her head. Did he hate her for being a Dark Eco Monster? Did he see her as a monster? Her friends did—they saw themselves as monsters, too, because that was what the baron and his men were creating with this project. If monsters saw themselves as such, then how else could a somewhat normal person see them?

The pink-haired girl expected the antisocial boy to lose interest and return to his own cell where he spent most of his time, but the opposite happened. He sat down beside her on her bed and waited for her to open up to him if she wanted. His presence was nice. It didn't answer any of her questions, though. It just proved he was a good guy that didn't want a poor girl like her to suffer alone.

"…You hate us…Don't you?" she asked, barely audible.

"Why would you ask something like that?" Jak wanted to know.

Sondra sat up slowly with a sigh, looking at her hands instead of her companion. "You're not like us, Jak. You've never transformed into the monster we all become. You're still clean while we are full of darkness that courses through our veins and controls us. You see us return from training covered in blood, and I'm sure you've heard what we become in that room. Do you…Do you hate us for what we have been forced to become?"

"…I hate very few people, and you are not one of them," was Jak's vague reply. He paused for a moment, then proceeded with the question, "…What's it like to transform?"

"It's painful, yet intoxicating at the same time. It's like a drug addiction you know is killing you, but a part of you can't wait for the next injection. Actually, it's rather sickening to think of it like that," Sondra admitted. "Many of us black out while we are under the influence of Dark Eco. We don't remember what happens during training. Sometimes we regain the memories in our dreams or in flashes when something triggers it, but it's never good. Becoming a Dark Warrior is not a walk in the park. Only a few of us are glad to be one, and I bet you can figure out who those people are." Sondra folded her hands together to try and stop their trembling as she sighed again. "What I wouldn't give to be normal again…To be a rebel girl working in the Underground to overthrow Baron Praxis. At least it would be a better life than being forged into a damned weapon."

"So that's how you wound up here," Jak assumed.

Sondra nodded. "I was sent on a mission to find out why so many prisoners were cut off from the others and never heard about again, but we made it appear that we were just trying to take out a store of munitions. Krusher, Randol, Aarin, and I tried to infiltrate one of Praxis's strongholds where plans on this very project were being kept. We hardly made it through the front door. We were captured and put in prison. Three months later, the very man we were trying to stop chose us to become his new weapons. We haven't been the same since. Can anyone say they're the same person they were when they came into this blasted prison now? Surely not. We've all changed…and soon we'll all be dead because of what Praxis is doing. Heh. One can only hope death will come soon."

"…I…can't exactly relate to that," Jak muttered.

"You are the luckiest of us all, Jak. You've never had to come out of a dark state and find blood and gore on you. You've never had to take lives meaninglessly. How do you stop yourself from becoming the beast?" Sondra inquired.

He shrugged. "I'm not completely sure. Whenever the eco is injected into me, I just… channel it like any other eco. It doesn't expel it from my body, but it doesn't allow it to take over, either. It's hard to explain. But I don't think it'd work for you. I'm an eco user; I've always been able to use eco when others have not. Unless you can do that, it wouldn't do you any good to fight the Dark Eco's influence. If anything, it might make the whole process more painful."

The pink-haired girl sighed again. "Well, a girl can hope, right?" She paused, then added, "I can help but think that holding back the Dark Eco by channeling it can happen without there being risks. What if all that eco in your body becomes activated at once by some outside stimuli? You would become your darker counterpart instantaneously, and there's no telling what kind of damage you'd do before you became yourself again. What you're doing is very dangerous…Are you sure you want to keep doing this? Wouldn't it be safer to let yourself succumb to the darkness a little bit so you can learn to control it?"

"Has turning into a monster many times made _you_ able to control it?" Jak countered.

"No, I suppose it hasn't," Sondra murmured, hanging her head. She looked down at her trembling hands again and saw blood there though there was none. "I…I just want to help, Jak. I don't want you to ever have to go through what we go through. Killing innocent people…Remembering their faces in my dreams…Knowing that some of them were once my friends…It's the worst possible thing that can happen to a person. But why am I telling this to you? You don't know what it's like at all." She turned her back on him in frustration. "You're the most normal of us all…You're not a fallen angel."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jak demanded.

"It means you don't know what true suffering is!" Sondra snapped. "Sure, you receive the same eco injections that we do, but you remain the same! You don't have to go through the painful transformations or kill people meaninglessly! You don't waste away hoping for death to come! You've no idea what it's like to be one of Praxis's Dark Warriors! You were blessed by the Precursors to rise above the Dark Eco while people like me are damned to die a death without honor or dignity! You've no idea what we go through, what _I_ go through, every day! All you do is mope because you're in prison! You've no idea how truly lucky you are!"

Sondra forced her anger aside, as rage was a trigger for her darker side to come out. Her fresh wound started aching again; she reached out towards it with her hand instinctively. Tears were in her eyes, but she would not allow them to fall and expose how weak she really was. She felt so weak, so helpless, and wanted nothing more than to just disappear from the face of the world.

"I'd give anything to be free from this suffering," she whimpered, not caring if Jak heard her. "But all I'll ever be…is a fallen angel."

Before she became a subject, before and during her time as a Freedom Fighter, Sondra used to sing. It had been something she had picked up from her mother when she was but a child. Her mother was long dead under the oppression of Baron Praxis, but her spirit still lived within her daughter. Sondra hardly ever let her voice reach its melodic range in prison, as a place this terrible did not deserve to be filled with happy sounds. But today would be different. She would sing the ballad she had created for the Dark Warriors, one she had sang before but never in Jak's presence.

"Scream, shout! Scream, shout! We are the fallen angels!" Sondra called, walking out of her cell to leave Jak and join her fellow Dark Warriors. They quieted down upon hearing her rallying cry and turned to look at her. "We are the in between, cast down as sons of world. Struck to the earth like lightning on this world, we're torn. We won't cause the pain of living out their law. Take joy in who you are. We know our wings are flawed. We're bored to death in heaven, and all alone in hell. We only want to be ourselves.

"We scream!"

"We scream!" the Dark Warriors cried.

"We shout!"

"We shout!"

"We are the fallen angels! We scream!"

"We scream!

"We shout! Whoa-oh, whoa-oh-oh-ohh! Too lonesome to sing along, no need to feel this sorrow. We scream!"

"We scream!"

"We shout! Whoa! We are the fallen angels!

"Follow the morning sun, a line went down his trail. The passion left them lonely, now you find yourself. We have nowhere to go, no one to wish us well. I'll cry to find our home. Our stories they will tell. We're bored to death in heaven, and all alone in hell. We only want to be ourselves.

"We scream!"

"We scream!"

"We shout!"

"We shout!"

"We are the fallen angels! We scream!"

"We scream!

"We shout! Whoa-oh, whoa-oh-oh-ohh! Too lonesome to sing along, no need to feel this sorrow. We scream!"

"We scream!"

"We shout! Whoa! We are the fallen angels!"

Seeing this as a sign of rebellion, the KG forced them back into their cells for the rest of the day. Sondra passed Jak on the way back into hers, but did not meet his gaze. Though they were stuck in the same situation, they weren't the same. He didn't hate her…

But he wouldn't understand her, either.

He could never understand.

* * *

><p><span>Month Thirty : Two Years and Six Months since the Start of the D.W.P.<span>

Lilee, Pein, and Tank were now dead. The Dark Eco had taken the short red-head's life after one round of injections, as it had been too much for poor Tank's body. The brunette snob had transformed before it was time and murdered twenty KGs, and was then put down as a result. Orange-haired Pein had, as Dark Pein, tried to escape only to be shot dead on sight. That left only eight people in the Dark Warrior Project, making it even less promising for the program to be a success. Still, Praxis and Erol refused to give up on this bunch until the last one was dead.

Now they were trying to get the subjects to change without being completely full of Dark Eco. Random times in the day, all but Jak would be taken from their cells into the training arena to be tested. Logun and Dianna could transform with ease, as could Krusher. Sondra had some difficulty, but could in time make herself give in to the darkness that was the Dark Eco. Randol, Aarin, and Branden could only transform for a few seconds before they were back to normal. Their superiors weren't discouraged. This just meant that more training was necessary before their new class of warriors could be sent into battle.

Sondra hadn't allowed herself to be alone with Jak since that day they had spoken. He had made it clear that he didn't like what she became, and that he didn't understand her pain at all. He was a freak among freaks, not normal but not a Dark Warrior. He would not know what she felt until he became like her, and that didn't seem likely to happen at any time. He had an advantage in this, being able to channel and suppress the Dark Eco that was killing the rest of them. He couldn't become a monster; he would never be Dark Jak so long as he kept channeling that eco. Being around him made Sondra hurt, so she resolved to never be around him again.

She leaned heavily against Krusher as they were escorted back to their cells, fatigued after having expelled most of her energy in training to transform on the fly. The pink-haired girl had no idea what she had done as Dark Sondra, but didn't want to find out. Her guy friend wasn't much better off, and yet he insisted on helping her. They had been friends since their first encounter in the Underground; nothing could ever change that. Not even becoming a creature of darkness could come between them.

Dianna had become completely unconscious as a result of becoming her darker self. Scrawny little Randol had offered to carry her due to certain feelings he felt for the former arsonist. The other guys teased him about it, and he denied it, but anyone could tell by looking at him how the green-haired man truly felt for the green-haired woman. It surprised Sondra how love could find its way even in this place where death was looming over them, waiting patiently to steal their lives from them in their misery. She just hoped that Randol and Dianna would find happiness before their hearts ceased to beat. They deserved that much.

"You don't look so good, Aarin," Krusher remarked as the purple-haired bearded man staggered along with them. "Are you doing okay?"

Aarin shook his head. "…That last transformation…really took it out of me…I feel really weak…right now. All I need is a little rest…and then I'll be fine."

"You sure? You're looking a little worse for wear, but it doesn't look like the kinda thing that only rest can heal. Not to scare everyone, but you look a lot like some of the other guys did. You know, before they took the path to freedom," Krusher commented. He was referring to how pale Aarin was and how sickly he appeared. It really brought back memories of those that had passed away, how they had appeared before their deaths.

Sondra gripped Krusher's arm tighter in fear. Was one of her own about to die now?

"I know. This will probably…be the end of me soon," Aarin admitted as his blue eyes found Sondra's face. "Don't…worry so much, girl. We knew we wouldn't live forever in this place…Everyone eventually dies…It's about time my old heart…stopped ticking. All this Dark Eco…It's too much for me to handle. I'm going to be…heading down the… path to freedom soon…and I wouldn't want to see you there…but I know…the odds are against that…"

The older gentleman stumbled and fell to his knees, coughing heavily with his hands gripping at his throat. A couple of Krimzon Guards picked him up and took him to the medical ward. Sondra felt her legs grow weak, knowing it was too late. The Dark Eco had consumed him, destroyed his heart and the rest of him from the inside. He would be dead before the day was over. Nothing could save him now. He was going to freedom.

"Don't cry, Sondra. Ol' Aarin is going to a better place," Krusher whispered, lifting the scared little girl into his arms.

This wasn't the first time a kind heart had faded away in front of her. Several of the now-deceased prisoners had been nice to her and the others, including Aarin and dear Tank. She had tried not to get too close to people once she realized that they were all doomed to die, but she had already been close to Aarin and the other people from the Underground when they were brought in. How could she possibly hope to shield herself from that pain? Simple answer; she couldn't.

So despite Krusher's whispered words, Sondra did cry. She buried her round face into his bloodied prison shirt while he held her and let her sadness be known to the world. The others said nothing, not even heartless Logun. They all understood how hard it was to lose someone close to them, as many had lost someone in their lives at one point in time. Sondra hadn't really; her mother had died and been buried when she was away from home and she hadn't had time to deal with that grief, and she wasn't one to let people get close. Sure, she happened to be kind to everyone she met, but there was a difference between being kind and making friends. Other than her mother, Aarin was her first loved one to die, and the only one to be dying in front of her.

Her friend deposited her onto her bed before going to his cell to clean up and take a nap. The door was left unlocked, as the KG saw them as manageable in a low number and still wanted to build their relationships despite seeing the Dark Warriors drop like flies. Sondra forced herself to stand and clean the blood off herself. Looking at the face in the broken mirror, she wondered how much longer it would be before she would start looking like Aarin had when he had collapsed.

She turned her back to the door and removed her bloodied shirt, lacking a brassiere because the prison uniform had none. Another prison shirt slid into place, accompanied by a clean pair of prison shorts. Throwing the soiled garments outside for some servant to deal with, she collapsed onto her bed once more to let her tears fall on its crummy surface that was more hard than comfortable.

The pink-haired girl didn't know how long she had cried before she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder. She glanced up with tear-filled eyes to find Jak standing there. Her heart dropped further into her stomach when she saw him. What was he doing in her cell? Hadn't she made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him the last time they had spoken? He had a clean conscience and would never understand what she was going through because he was a freak among freaks. She had pretty much told him that to his face in this very room. So why…?

"…I heard about Aarin," he said quietly, holding her green gaze in his blue one. "I'm sorry you've lost a friend."

Sondra wanted to look away, but found that she could not. "…What do you know about losing friends? Other than your freedom, I bet you've never lost a single thing."

Knowing that her words were in grief and bitterness, Jak held back the hurtful words he would have said otherwise. "I have lost people in my life. In fact…I've lost everything I have ever known. That portal separated me from my home, my friends…and then I lost my best friend Daxter when Erol captured me and brought me here. So yeah, I do know what it's like to lose friends. I've lost every one I've ever had. I don't even know if they're alive or dead, which is worse than knowing that they rest well in death."

"…That is worse," Sondra murmured in agreement, feeling worse now that she had misjudged Jak. "…Why did you come here? I…I don't need someone comforting me, especially since I…I'm going to be dead soon. We all will be. We will all end up like Aarin soon, and then we'll take the journey to freedom. If you have any sense, you wouldn't let yourself get close to anyone. You'll just end up getting hurt in the end …even more so than you already are. And I…I don't want to hurt you."

"I can handle a little more pain if it helps to take away some of yours," Jak assured her.

With a morose sigh, Sondra moved her legs so Jak could sit beside her on the bed. She readjusted herself so she wasn't touching him but could see and hear him just fine. Tears were still falling from her eyes; she tried wiping them away with the backs of her hands, but they kept coming.

"I'm sorry…These damn tears wouldn't stop. I guess I really am weak…just like Lilee used to say," Sondra apologized, not meeting Jak's gaze.

"If you take what that bitch said to heart, then you're calling me weak as well. And I'm not weak. Tears aren't a sign of weakness, anyway. They just show that you're human. That's nothing to be ashamed of," Jak told her.

"But…I'm not human. I'm a monster…and I'll never be anything more than a monster. This Dark Eco that runs through my veins…It had made me a killer. Someone as young as me shouldn't have blood on their hands, especially not the rivers I have on mine. A monster shouldn't cry tears of water. If they cry at all, it would be tears of blood," Sondra claimed in a frail voice, wanting to disappear again.

"Sondra, you're not a monster. That Dark Eco being you become is its own person, created by the KG and Praxis. If any person here is a monster, it's those people. The blood you claim to be on your hands is really on theirs. Rivers of innocent blood stains them, but unlike you, they care nothing about it. All they want is the ultimate weapon to destroy their enemies, and they don't care about the cost. Look where that's got them. But I'm getting off the subject. The point is, you are still human. You will always be who you are, no matter what you go through," Jak stated.

"You're wrong! The Dark Eco won't let me be me!" Sondra cried, sitting up in dismay.

"If that's the case, then let's get that Dark Eco out of you," Jak suggested.

Before Sondra could do or say anything, Jak grabbed her roughly by the shoulders. She felt the darkness that flowed through her veins being pulled from her, and was both relieved and shocked to see it go. Outside of her body she saw it being transferred into Jak, the eco user that could channel it and suppress it. The purple poison left her body only to enter his. At first it caused no changes, but after awhile she saw him starting to take the form of a Dark Warrior.

"No! Jak! Stop!" she shouted, pushing him away before the transformation could go any further. In her hurry to save him from becoming a monster, she had used too much force and knocked him onto the floor. The Dark Eco left his physical appearance as it was suppressed, but the process had knocked the wind out of him. Sondra got of her bed and knelt beside him to make sure he was all right.

"Don't you do that again. Any more and you would have become what Praxis wants you to be," Sondra declared, looking at him as tears still fell from her eyes. "Why did you do it, Jak? You hardly even know me…and the way I spoke to you the last time…Why did you risk your own safety to take the Dark Eco from me? Don't you care about your own safety, your own life?"

"…I couldn't let a pretty girl like you…think of herself so poorly just because…of a little Dark Eco," Jak grumbled with a small smile.

"A little? Try over two years of injections' worth. What I have in my body is more than you have in yours, and if you tried to take it all out of me, you'd probably die," Sondra admonished. She gave him a small teary grin and took one of his hands in hers. "But thank you for trying. It's the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a long time, and probably the last nice thing anyone will do for me in this life."

"Don't talk like that. You still have a lot of life ahead of you. You might be the odd man out and survive this whole ordeal," Jak pointed out.

Sondra shook her head. "Very unlikely. Everyone else that has been in my place has died. And besides, even if I managed to survive this, I'd just end up dying in the struggle against the Metal Heads. Let's face it, Jak. I'm going to die. We all are."

"You can give up hope, but I never will," Jak said.

"Then, for your sake, I hope you survive to get out of this place."

* * *

><p><span>Month Thirty-Three : Two Years and Nine Months since the Start of the D.W.P.<span>

Love affairs proved fatal in this prison. Dianna and Randol had shared feelings for one another, which reflected in their Dark Eco forms, unfortunately for them. They would work great together in the training. That wasn't a problem. It was when Randol accidentally became Dark Randol during a passionate moment that things turned sour. Dark Randol dug his claws across Dianna's abdomen, causing her great pain, as he roughly kept his mouth against hers. She had no choice but to give into her darkness to protect herself. Dark Dianna and Dark Randol ended up ripping each other to shreds before they could be stopped by the KG. Their love had been their doom.

The Dark Eco was becoming harder to control. Knowing this, Praxis cut the injections down to only one a month, with only Jak getting more because he was considered behind everyone else. Sondra, Logun, Krusher, and Branden were forced to continue with their training despite their low numbers. Their darker selves more than made up for that in the opinion of their superiors. When they finished their training, they were taken back to their cells where they were to stay indefinitely. The idea of developing teamwork had been thrown out the window after what had happened with Dianna and Randol.

Sondra knew it wasn't long now. She was changing into Dark Sondra without warning, endangering herself and anyone around her as that winged monster of darkness. But more than that, her appearance was becoming worse. She was starting to look like the dead, like Aarin had before he passed into the free path. The Dark Eco would take her life soon, or it would cause her to do something that would result in her death.

It was the inevitable truth.

She came to after blacking out as Dark Sondra covered in cuts and bruises with her cell a wreck, not for the rest time. A KG glanced through the bars in the top of the door to inspect the damage with a groan. Her cell was no longer acceptable for any person, monster or otherwise, to stay in. He opened the door, put her arms into some heavy metal cuffs, and ordered her to follow him. He shoved her inside another crummy cell, removed the cuffs, and locked the door behind her. She fell to her knees and cried loudly for a quick death, but it didn't come.

In frustration, she screamed and punched the wall. The sound echoed throughout the emptiness of the prison as the walls were made of metal. She held her now-bleeding hand against her chest, wanting to end her misery but not being able to in the slightest. If she even attempted to kill herself, the KG would be on her in an instant. And even if they weren't, the Dark Eco would rise inside and make her into a monster so she would not be able to die so easily. It was hard to decide what wanted her to live more, the KG or the Dark Eco.

She slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor, her bloodied knuckles creating fresh stains on her somewhat decent clothing. Tears fell from her eyes, pooling on the floor from the streams that flowed down her face. Sondra no longer cared what people thought of her when they heard her crying. She was stuck with a friend, a murderer, a con-man, an eco user, and a bunch of nuts that had changed her life for the worst. All she wanted was to die and those nuts wouldn't let her. Why couldn't they just end her suffering so she could be free at last?

Because they liked to make people suffer.

That was the only reason she could think of.

"…Sondra, please don't cry," a quiet voice said from the other side of her wall.

"…Who…Who said that…?" Sondra sobbed, her voice shaky and choked.

"It's Jak. You were moved into the cell beside mine," the voice informed her. "…Are you …Are you all right over there?"

"All right? Of course not! I'm living in a nightmare world that I can't escape! I'm becoming a monster more times than I remain normal! The world blacks out for me and then I find myself covered in blood, and some of it is my own! I'm losing myself to the darkness these bastards keep putting in me! I'm going insane!" Sondra exclaimed, not caring if the KG heard her. "There's nothing all right about this at all! No person should ever, EVER be put through this torture! No human should feel this pain, or go through this madness! But these bastards care nothing for humanity! All they want is a weapon to combat things they cannot fight on their own!" She dug her nails deep into the skin on her legs, where they had been resting, and drew blood. "Those monsters have turned _us_ into monsters, monsters that will die because of the evil that infects our hearts!"

She screamed at the top of her lungs as the tears continued to fall. Eventually her noise would make the KG intervene, and they'd probably knock her unconscious somehow to shut her up. But in her state of despair, she didn't care. She was too scared, too frantic to care what might happen. All that mattered was the truth of what would become of her in a short period of time.

"…She's not wrong," Logun put in from his cell across the prison from them, loud enough to be heard when Sondra couldn't scream anymore. "Even a hardened killer like myself…gets tired of pain eventually. And I don't like being used as a weapon, especially when forging me into that weapon results in my death. I broke long ago…I can only imagine how painful this experience has been for those of you that never took a life before being thrown in this dump."

"I couldn't live with myself even if I did manage to come out of this alive," Branden grumbled from his cell.

"Nor could I. I would have to be away from all humanity and never see my friends again, and even then the chances my life lasting would be slim. The memories of what I've done in this prison because of this blasted Dark Warrior Project…It has pushed me to insanity. Surely it won't be much longer before I truly go insane," Krusher agreed. "Even you must know some of what we're talking about, Jak. Though you've never changed into the beast, you've had half as many eco injections as we have. The pain of that alone should be enough to drive you mad despite not having blood on your hands."

"Pain connects people in ways that nothing else can," Logun muttered.

"Perhaps that's why we all got along so well…for the most part…before everyone started dying off," Branden commented. "We all felt the same pain. We were all in pain."

"Pain unites all under the right circumstances," Krusher concurred.

Sondra continued to bawl, over two years' worth of tears and agony released in a moment of weakness. KGs exchanged glances, wondering if they should put a stop to her noise and the 'rebellious' comments of the other Dark Warriors. But was it really worth it? They were all dying and they were in the worst possible place they could ever be. There was nothing more the Krimzon Guards could do. So they left the prisoners alone, the most human thing any of them had done in a long time.

"…I want to be free…," she said under the sobs, just audible to those listening.

"Hey, you. Guy in the armor," Branden called from his cell, his baby face appearing between the bars of the window in his door. The KGs turned to look at him. "Can't you let us out for a little while? Even you can see this program is a total failure. It won't matter how the rest of us die. Besides, we're all depleted of Dark Eco at the moment and tired because of these infrequent changes we've been going through lately. Can you let us out for just thirty minutes? I promise we'll be quiet if you grant us this one thing."

After some deliberation, the Krimzon Guards on duty agreed to let them out for thirty minutes. Their doors were unlocked and opened to grant them leave. Krusher stood outside of Sondra's cell, eyeing her sadness with a pitying gaze. The brawny blonde man knew that nothing he said or did could draw his little girl friend from her current state. He glanced back at the blue-haired man that arranged their outing and shook his head. Logun sighed, feeling sympathy for someone for the first time in years.

Those three men separated themselves from Sondra, seeing as they couldn't help her, and had their own peaceful conversation with each other. Sondra hadn't even noticed them.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, which drew her away from her misery long enough to glance up to see who was there. Jak had come in after the others walked away; he didn't like to hear her crying, it seemed. This wasn't the first time he had come in to check on her while tears were running down her face. He crotched down beside her without moving his hand, his beautiful blue eyes keeping hold on her green eyes. Even though she hardly knew him, even though they had had their differences, Sondra knew beyond a doubt that she could trust Jak as long as she lived…no matter how short of a time that would be.

She collapsed into his arms and cried into his chest. Sondra had never been a silent crier and not even prison could change that. Jak closed his eyes as he held her close, trying to comfort another person as he hadn't done in a very long time. Just being there, with the simplest of contact, was more than enough for the despairing pink-haired elf. She clung to him like her life depended on it, and he did nothing to go against that.

When their thirty minutes was almost up, Sondra finally managed to cry herself out. Only an occasional tear managed to fall from her eyes. She just lay in Jak's arms, sniffling as he ran a comforting hand through her hair, head resting on his now-soaked shirt. Her noise had died down to a level even the cruel KGs could tolerate. All was peaceful once more in this wing of the prison.

"…Thank you, Jak…," she sobbed, meeting his caring blue gaze with her shaky green one. Their faces were only a few inches away from each other. "…Your kindness, even in this place of pain and death, is unending. But…You shouldn't allow yourself to become attached to me. I don't want to end up like Dianna and Randol. And…It will hurt you more in the end…because you know how my tale shall play out. Jak, I…I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't," Jak stated, and it was hard to argue with him.

"…You're wrong. The stats prove I will. Either I will turn into the Dark Eco monster that lies within and hurt you that way…or my death will cause you great suffering. The only way to protect yourself…is to keep away from me, from all of us. That was what you were doing before…before I introduced myself to you all those months ago. Precursors, it feels like a lifetime ago." Sondra glanced away from Jak and pulled away a little. "I wish things were different. If they were, you'd be with your lost friends and I would still be with my friends…and my mother. Our paths would never have crossed, and especially not in such a terrible way. We'd be happy separate, not miserable together."

"I haven't been as miserable since you spoke to me," Jak admitted, getting Sondra to look at him again, but only out of the corner of her eye. "This place is far from great. Let's face it. We're living in a hellhole. But it does have one bright spot to it…Or at least, it did until today."

"And what's that?" Sondra asked.

"Don't make me say it. I'll sound corny," Jak muttered.

"Corny or no, you must say it," Sondra told him.

"You, Sondra. You were the bright spot of this whole thing. Despite Lilee and Pein always heckling you, you hardly ever lost your smile. You were nice to everyone and tried to get them to smile, and even created a song for the Dark Warriors. You kept people up when they had every reason to be down. And best of all, you were the first to speak to the freak among freaks," Jak remarked with a small smile. "Sondra, you've made this place bearable ever since I was brought here. Without you around, this place would truly be the worst place in the world…perhaps even the universe."

Sondra returned his smile with an even smaller one that was quickly gone. "Jak, don't. We're already too close for your own good. When I die-"

"It'll hurt me, I know," Jak interrupted, scowling.

"Don't you understand? I don't want to hurt you any more than you will be hurt. To avoid unnecessary pain, you should leave me now," Sondra claimed, making to pull away from Jak and stand.

Jak grabbed her hand to prevent her from following through with her actions. "What if that will hurt me?"

Sondra's expression saddened further. "It will hurt less than watching me die up close."

"Yes, but…What about your own pain?" Jak asked.

The pink-haired girl flashed him a grim smile. "I'll be fine, Jak, once I'm on the path to freedom." She moved closer and planted one on his lips before he could fully absorb the situation or react. She whispered, "Don't you ever give up hope, Jak. I believe in you more than I've ever believed in myself. Stay strong. You'll get out of here someday."

Then the KGs ordered everyone back to their cells, giving Jak no time to respond. Sondra watched him leave her to return to his cell with sad eyes, wishing she could see him become the great hero he was destined to become.

But it was not in the cards.

All the fallen angels were doomed to die…

Including her.

* * *

><p><span>Month Thirty-Five : Two Years and Eleven Months since the Start of the D.W.P.<span>

Somehow all of the remaining Dark Warriors managed to survive to this month. This was not pointing out what their physical conditions were when they weren't under the control of the Dark Eco. They were becoming sicklier and sicklier with every passing day. Everyone could tell they would be dying soon. The Dark Warrior Project was truly a failure, even if Praxis wouldn't consider it so until the last subject died. He planned on using the remaining Dark Warriors to attack the Nest just next week. What a fool.

A couple of Krimzon Guards deposited an unconscious Krusher into his cell without kindness. Logun, who was still awake but unable to walk on his own, was tossed carelessly into his. Branden was not with them as he had medical issues that required he be brought to the medical ward. Sondra had been deposited as carelessly as Krusher, resulting in some minor pain from the drop as her door was closed behind her. She managed to crawl up into her bed and remove her bloodied clothing to replace it with the clean set, but couldn't make herself stand to remove the blood from her skin. She was far too exhausted for that. The Dark Eco had made her so.

She had been envious of Jak's power before, but now she was desperately jealous of him. He was the only one that showed no signs of dying. He still had the color in his skin, the light in his eyes, the strength to stand and do things on his own. She had lost that in the two months that had passed since their last encounter. In her weakening, it seemed that he was getting stronger. It wasn't fair, but life hardly ever played fair as it had its own rules.

The pink-haired girl looked through half-closed eyes at the blood on her hands, but unlike every other time she saw it her hands did not tremble. It was almost like she didn't care about it anymore, and truly she didn't. Her life was fading right in front of her face, leaving her powerless to stop it. A little blood never hurt anyone save the person it came from. She could survive with a little of it on her.

Oh, how much she had changed since being brought into this accursed place. Once she vomited at the mere sight of the crimson life-stream, but now she could tolerate its presence without a care. What was she becoming?

"I am becoming a monster," she whispered to herself, answering her unspoken question.

Then she sang her last song in life, the one she had to get out before it was too late.

"Words fall out of my mouth, and I can't seem to trace what I'm saying. Everybody wants your time. I'm just dreaming out loud. I can't have you for mine and I know it. I just wanna watch you shine," Sondra sang, filling the pitiful prison wing with the melody of her voice while directing her song at a certain person. "Tripping up on my tongue. It's all over my face and I'm racing. Gotta get away from you. Burning all the way home, try to put it to bed, but it chases every little thing I do. When the light falls on your face, don't let it change you. When the stars get in your eyes, don't let them blind you.

"You are beautiful just the way you are. And I love it all, every line and every scar. And I wish that I could make you see, this is where you ought to be. Come down to me.

"Spell it out in a song, bet you never catch on to my weakness. I'm singing every word for you. Here I'm thinking I'm sly, then you're catching my eye, and just maybe, you're thinking what I'm thinking, too. When you see it on my face, don't let it shake you. I know better than to try and take you with me.

"You are beautiful just the way you are. And I love it all, every line and every scar. And I wish that I could make you see, this is where you ought to be. Come down to me. Come down to me."

She said her silent farewells to her friends, and to Jak, as she felt the Dark Eco rise within her again. There was no stopping it this time. Now she would become the monster she was for the last time in her life. Blood would stain her hands one last time before her heart ceased to beat. Today would be remembered…as the day the pink-haired elf named Sondra took the path to freedom.

Sondra did not black out this time as she became a creature of Dark Eco. On the contrary, she saw everything more vividly than ever before. Her skin became whitish-gray. Devil-wings sprouted from her back from their attachment near the lower part of her spine. Nails turned to dark claws to mirror the color of her eyes. Her powers came at full force. It was almost like even her darker half had accepted this would be her last battle, her last act of life, her last few moments of breathing. Dark Sondra, despite being a monster, wanted to help Sondra down the path to freedom, even at the cost of her life.

With all of her strength, Dark Sondra sent a Dark Strike at her door, knocking the metal thing away from her cell with little resistance. She was in the sky before the Krimzon Guards could corner her, trying to evade them. The Dark Eco monster had been trained not to attack those in crimson and or golden armor, and for once in her existence she did not want to draw blood. She just wanted to help her lighter counterpart find freedom by either through escaping this accursed place…or through their death.

Her dark eyes searched for an escape route from this awful place. Laser fields went up all around her, cutting off means of her leaving even with her wings. The only way to get away now would be for her to create an exit. Avoiding and deflecting the electricity and bullets the KGs like to use on everyone, Dark Sondra powered up a great Dark Strike and aimed it at the wall. When it was released and hit that structure, it created a huge explosion. The smoke from that explosion cleared to reveal an equally huge hole where wall had once stood. This would be her means of getting out of this place in one piece.

The fellow Dark Warriors cheered on their companion, wishing for her to be free when they could not. Jak glanced out of the bars of his window silently, though he also wanted her to be free. Dark Sondra locked eyes with him for a moment, feeling sadness she had never felt but knew her lighter self had experienced many times. She mouthed her farewells to that boy that had never transformed before taking off towards the hole.

Locking eyes with Jak had wasted enough time for one of the KG to get a bead on her. A bullet flew through the air, tearing into one of her devil-wings just as she made it through the hole in the wall. Dark Sondra shrieked in pain, a terrible sound that caused all to cover their ears, as blood began to ooze from the wound. Her altitude dropped a few feet but she was able to keep herself in the air. The wound granted other KGs enough time to get their weapons locked on her as well. Gunfire rang throughout the prison wing as bullet after bullet tore into Dark Sondra's devil-wings, tearing them to bloody shreds that couldn't even support a fly. Her fellows watched in horror as the damaged female Dark Warrior dropped from the sky, a good thirty foot drop if not more. No one could survive a fall like that.

At least, not a normal person.

Unfortunately for Dark Sondra and Sondra, they did survive the fall when they would have wished for anything else. The Dark Eco wasn't enough to keep her from harm. Bones broke and were poking through the skin, visible even to her eyes. She was broken and bleeding, suffering pain that rivaled the pain of the eco injections she had been through. Dark Sondra was too weak to retain control of their shattered shell, so Sondra came back out. Biting her tongue to keep from screaming, the pink-haired girl forced herself to stand and walk away from this place. If she was going to die, which in truth she was, Sondra swore she would die outside of the prison where she could see the sun again.

She lost all strength just moments after the prison was out of sight. Her shattered body could not support her anymore; she collapsed in a patch of grass that still managed to grow in industrialized Haven City. People looked at her like she was vermin, but she didn't care what anyone thought of her now. Sondra just looked up at the sky as it became harder to keep her eyes open. The sun's rays illuminated her face, and a genuine smile managed to come onto her face for the first time in nearly two years.

At last, Sondra was free.

* * *

><p><span>Three Years after the End of the D.W.P.<span>

"What are you thinking about, Jak?" an orange Ottsel asked his blonde buddy from his shoulder, looking down at his distracted friend as they stood outside the remains of the prison for the first time in a few years.

"…Nothing. I was just remembering the others that were in there with me," Jak muttered, focusing his blue gaze on the ground instead of the Ottsel. "…There were…twenty-one of us, and before us there had been twenty-three others."

"And you were the only one to survive out of those people? It must be because I broke you out and brought you to freedom before those jerks could be the death of you," the Ottsel assumed. "You're lucky I found ya when I did. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to die free. You would have died in that terrible place along with the rest of 'em. How…depressing."

Jak shook his head. "You're wrong, Daxter. One of those prisoners did die free. She broke out using Dark Eco before the Krimzon Guard could stop her. She didn't die in the prison with everyone else. She made herself free."

"Really? Then how can you say she's dead if she escaped?" Daxter wanted to know.

"…They shot her out of the sky when she was escaping. The fall should have killed her… but I heard from Erol's mouth that she managed to survive long enough to get away from the prison. She died in a patch of grass not far from here, staring up at the sun," Jak explained. "And before you ask, females using Dark Eco grow wings. That's how she flew out of the prison." He paused before looking at the ground again. "…It's also for that reason that Sondra referred to us as fallen angels."

"Her name was Sondra, huh? That's a nice name," Daxter commented. "At least she went out in an honorable way, I guess." He hesitated before asking, "Did ya like her?"

The elf shrugged. "We were stuck in prison together for two years, Dax. She was the only girl in there that spoke kindly to me and the first person to say anything to me that wasn't one of the KG or Praxis." He recalled the day she last spoke to him, before she had escaped to die free and could almost feel her lips on his again. "I guess you could say…I did have feelings for her, just as she had feelings for me. But then she died on me, along with the other three that were around at the end. So it really doesn't matter what I felt."

"You're wrong, Jak. It does matter. That girl was just like you, knows what it's like to be in your place. She taught you all there was to know about being a Dark Eco creature by just being there so you could learn before you became one yourself. She showed you kindness where none should have existed. This Sondra chick may be dead, but she's left a mark on your life that will never fade away or be replaced, not even by Keira," Daxter stated comfortingly, feeling his buddy's pain and trying to soothe it. "Fallen angels you might have been, and she might not be with you anymore, but that makes no difference. The things we do in our past and the friends we make…They make us who we are. Nothing can ever change that. So in conclusion, Jak, it does matter what you felt for Sondra, because those feelings made you become the great hero you are today."

Jak hated admitting when the little orange animal was right since Daxter hardly ever was, but in this instance he had no choice. Daxter might act like an idiot most of the time, but he really did know what he was talking about. He didn't tell that to his friend, of course; that would just inflate his ego and then he'd never shut up. Jak's blue eyes turned towards the sky, meeting the green sun that Sondra had looked upon when she passed from this world to take the path to freedom.

"Sondra," he whispered. "Thank you."

* * *

><p><em>AN: The end of a very long one-chapter story. That was a lot of stuff that happened in such a short period of time, but it works. Anyways, what did you think of this story? Please tell me without flaming. Thank you for reading. Have a wonderful day._

_Also, I don't own the songs Fallen Angels by Black Veil Brides or Come Down To Me by Saving Jane. I just used their lyrics here in this story. Just saying._


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